Her Last Chance
by Maggie New
Summary: Maggie's dad is a drunk and her mom is long gone. But in one day her life changes when she is attacked by the Nemean Lion, taken to Camp Half-blood, dreams of a creature no one has seen before, and claimed by Aphrodite and Apollo. And that was a good day.
1. Just One Day

It was a very cold day. Not the coldest I have experienced, living in Maine and all, but pretty cold for the beginning of June. And I knew deep, really deep, down nothing good would come of it. I really did know! It feels like it happened yesterday. That might be because it did, but hey? This is my story so butt out! Now some of you might be wondering what "it" is that I am referring to so let me take you back to when it started, yesterday morning.

"Maggie get your butt out of bed this instant!" my dad bellowed from down the stairs, even though was already up and eating breakfast behind him.

"Ummm, Dad I'm kind of already up." I replied meekly and braced myself for the blow.

"Then get off you lazy bum and get to school!" he yelled in his drunken rage. Sighing I heaved my self up from the table grabbed my stuff and walked out of the house. His response troubled me a bit, normally when he has been up all night drinking and hanging out with a girl in the morning I got a severe beating for... well I'm not really sure why. But I stopped caring about that a while ago, because hey, it's all I have ever known. I have never really though about my mother but as I walked I started to think about what my life would have been like if she didn't leave my dad for another man soon after I was born. Now don't get me wrong it could have been worse, like BOTH of my parents abandoning me.

As you all can tell I was in deep intellectual thought here, therefore it was only logical for me fail to notice the wheezing, scuffling noises behind me. So of course by the time I did notice it was way to late. All I remember after that was... well nothing, I woke up here and started screamed bloodies murder cause the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was... A HORSE MAN! And the being the very intellectual being I am, I then quite ingeniously, passed out, but not before feeling a searing pain rip through my entire body. Hey! Maybe that's why I passed out...

-The next day-

"Maggie? Are you awake?" a soft voice whispered. I opened my eyes to see a lovely woman in front of me. "Oh good! Now then! It's such a shame you wont even be able to get through orientation. But boss just wont have it any other way. Oh! He is going to love you! Seeing you are such a pretty little thing. And smart too!" As the lady spoke her shapely form began to change. Strands of yellow goop oozed from her head like hair and her eyes...well lets just say she had holes in her face where her eyes SHOULD be. Her orange lips twisted into a shape that can only be described as evil as she opened her mouth amber liquid pored from her every pore. I couldn't help my self I started screaming and I bolted up.

"Maggie what's wrong?" said Horseman, mentioned earlier. "We tried to wake you up but you were in some kind of trance. Careful! No sudden movements you took quite a thrashing from the Nemean Lion."

"Well, I... it was just a dream..." A silent scream radiated from my head as I thought about that dream. And a tiny, tiny part of me thought that maybe, just maybe, Horseman could help. But who am I kidding? What kind of sane person has a dream like that? On the other hand, what kind of sane person sees a Horseman?"

"I can't believe you killed the Nemean Lion! No one has killed him since Hercules! How did you do it?" a boy with striking features asked, his voice full of awe. I don't see how I over looked him in my original room scan! He was HOTT! He had black hair and the most mystifying green eyes; I'm such a sucker for green eyes!

"What?" I asked extremely confused. "I didn't kill anything, in fact I didn't even know something was behind me until it attacked, and then I just passed out. So it seams you know whom I am but who are you. And what are you?" Horseman took a step forward as I said that and I shrank into my bed.

"Hi! I'm Percy son of Poseidon," the boy said." Well, I'm a demi-god or half blood, and so are you. You're at Camp Half Blood. This is Chiron. And here have some of this." he handed me something that looked like a hunk of bread. I ate all of it in two bites; it tasted good, like a freshly made Christmas cookie.

" Yumm..." I said as I liked my lips "ok, Percy son of Poseidon, ummm who is Poseidon? You said it like its the president or something. And what the heck is a half blood and what do you mean I'm one of them?"

" You...you... you don't know who Poseidon is?" his face looked like someone just punched him in the gut and if I hadn't been very confused before I would have been now.

"Well no, not really. I have only heard of one Poseidon, Greek god of the sea, personally my favorite is Aphrodite she is just so beautiful and." about then I realized I was rambling so I shut my trap. The horror in Percy's face had slipped away.

Horseman walked over to Percy and put his hand on his shoulder "You have heard of the right Poseidon, you see, to answer your question what is a half blood, Percy is half god half human, and so are you." I'm guessing it was my confused stair that told him to continue. As he took a deep breath and was preparing to start again as beautiful girl with long curly blonde hair a gray eyes ran in. And suddenly Horseman and I were invisible to Percy, that girl held all his attention.

"Hi, I'm Annabeth good to know your alive." and she said in a very rushed voice. "Hey, ummm Chiron? Mr.D is strangling some undetermined kid with vines...again."

That got Horseman into action and he started rambling " Annabeth stay here with Maggie, you too Percy. I'll be back soon, try and answer her questions." with that horseman galloped off. Percy looked at Annabeth for a good long…second before they rushed to each other and started a serious make out session, in front of me!

"Who is Mr.D and why is strangling kids? And what does undetermined mean?" I asked just so they would be force to stop kissing.

Annabeth looked murderous and Percy looked like a volcano ready to blow. "Mr.D is the god of wine but he got punished and has to come run camp for a few centuries. He is strangling kids as a source of twisted amusement...undetermined means that the person undetermined does not know who their godly parent is, meaning their Olympian parent has not claimed them." Annabeth said very rushed and never took her gaze off of Percy.

"What is up with all this godly parent and what not? I know when my leg is being pulled and right now I'm pretty sure it is..."as I said this Annabeth looked at me and seamed shocked and Percy looked slightly uncomfortable "What?" was all I could think to say.

"Nothing but you have just been claimed." Percy said kind of normal like but I could tell he was weirded out, and still slightly annoyed with me.

"By whom?" I said as I looked at what they were looking at a symbol above my head that had a sun and music note intertwined with what looked like a pink scarf.  
"Apollo and Aphrodite" Annabeth said all high and mighty.  
"What? That can't be! I have a dad!" and just as I was screaming this out Horseman came in looked over my head as the last of the sign shimmered away.

"Maggie..." he started when suddenly the room was filled with tremendous light and the weirdest combination of things I have ever smelled, an amazing perfume and burnt grass. In a flash the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and a very attractive young man poofed into the room, holding hands and looking very pleased with themselves .

"Welcome Aphrodite, Apollo." Horseman nodded to each respectively. You know when you get that feeling that a person is being honest –to- God truthful? Well, I got that. He wasn't lying. Here was the only logical explanation to explain everything that had ever happened to me in my life. Why I could speak fluent Greek and Latin with out ever having studied them. Why people would stop in the street and stare at me because well, not to be vain, but because of how beautiful I am. How I could play any instrument ever made. The reasons spun around me and the room began to spin too.

"Don't look so shocked!" Aphrodite proclaimed as she settled herself in a flourish in the only chair in the room, if I wasn't already sitting in a bed I would have collapsed. The room slowly settled itself. Knowing something is true doesn't mean it makes sense, and this definitely didn't. " He is just so yummy to look at…" she let her voice trail off. 

"Don't you think this is a bit sudden?" Horseman asked. " She just found out you existed, got claimed and you show up all in the same hour?"

"We wanted to see are...umm... handiwork" Apollo said grinning widely.

"Eww! Gross!" was Percy's ingenious remark to that. Apollo shot him a warning look. With that every one started talking, well everyone but me.

" Hey!" I shouted over the din of the room "can I ask a question!"

"Sure sugar." Apollo said. "Ask daddy anything." I had to suppress a grimace. No way, no how, was I ever gonna call this guy "Daddy".

"What about my dad?" I shouted. Then added in a whisper "I don't get it"

A small smile crept across Aphrodite's face " I was hoping some one would ask! Oh I just love a tragic story! You see," half an hour later we were all briefed in on how my dad meet Aphrodite on the street one day after his girlfriend broke up with him and they started to talk. He promised that if anyone could change his love life for the better then he would do anything for them. And seeing that I was newly born it worked perfectly, so he took me and got a better love life. "The drinking was something I never expected, anyways when that…thing… came after you I had to make sure you got here safely! And you did! I make the most wonderful plans!" Aphrodite's smile could melt the coldest places yet her smile reminded me of something...

" I feel a haiku coming on," Apollo claimed as she took a deep breath. Wild images passed before my eyes, a terrible woman, and of amber liquid seeping out through her.

"Come back, come back sweet Maggie! My master is waiting, he is!" The dream voice swirled around the room. Everyone could hear it and the chatter instantly died. "Come back, come back," I screamed. A defining, glass shattering scream that seamed to scare the dream away.

"Maggie?" I looked up with hollow eyes. "What was that?"

"A dream." I stated. "A dream."

Aphrodite and Apollo looked at horseman with horror, "What dream Ch." and then I passed out, again.


	2. The Dream

"Darling, wake up." For a horrifying second I thought I was dreaming The Dream again, but no. The voice was different. Opening my eyes I had to squint to see the person in front of me. My mother, Aphrodite. Yeah, I did just say, well really think, that. My Mother. Aphrodite. Aphrodite is my mother. Let me tell you, it is weird. All my life I had wondered, on some part, who my mother was, but Aphrodite? Can I get a refund, please? You know how many children this woman has? Ugh! She is such a slut! An all powerful, egocentric, flamboyant SLUT! Who hopefully cannot read minds. "Oh! You're awake finally! When you passed out Chiron told Apollo and I to take you on up to Olympus. So we did! This is your room, whenever you want it to be! Come I'll show you around my house! Then we can meet up with your father," a dreamy smile filtered across her face, and a small girlish giggle tinkled from her lips. Could this woman do anything and not be so 'dainty'? It was driving me nuts, already! "Right, where was I? Meet up with your father for lunch and to see the rest of the place. Oh it's Wonderful here! Zeus finally installed that day spa I was petitioning for!" I let her chatter on. My room, eh? I could get used to that. My room at home had consisted of two mattresses on top of each other, a dresser with four drawers and a cracked aging mirror. Here was a whole new story. The bed I was laying on was bigger then my whole room had been, and there were silk sheets on the bed. Silk! The room was plush and very pink. Not that I minded that, pink is my favorite color. It's probably dear old moms too. "I'll let you get dressed. The closet is over there, she pointed to a set of doors. "There is plenty to choose from in there!" She smiled and waltzed out.

"There is plenty to choose from!" I mimicked in my best Aphrodite voice. "No duh! When the closet is bigger then my whole house is! Why couldn't my mom be Athena or something? Why was I, of all people, stuck with the annoying one?" I opened my 'closet'; you really should call it a mall, and began tromping though to find some jeans.

"You know, Niece, she does mean well." I turned a corner to see who I assumed to be Athena. "Yes, I am Athena. And while I do feel honored that you wish I was your mother, you are forgetting something, I am not." I looked at my feet, if she knew I said all of that then Aphrodite probably did too. "Don't fret, your mother knows nothing of your outburst. Think back Maggie, to when you were talking to Percy yesterday. Who did you say your favorite goddess was?"

"Aphrodite." I mumbled, and it was true. She stands for everything that I believe in. Love, peace, feminine rights, ect. "I looked down, unable to face this goddess, this immortal being of wisdom.

"Look at me, their, much better. You have a great future ahead of you, and an immortal on at that. You're mother loves you dearly, a gift and a curse. A gift because so often us immortals don't remember to look down and love our children. But it is a curse because it will inspire jealousy and spark hatred from many. I believe you have met my daughter? Annabeth? You two have a future that is greatly intertwined but before you can find out what I mean you must talk to your parents about your birth. Do you understand child?"

"Yes. I understand. And, well, thank you. I suppose it is a lot to adjust to." I began to fidget. This woman knew so much and I so little, yet she spoke to me as an equal. "Going from having no mother to one so, so eccentric. I will do as you ask, and again thank you." My last words were whispers and Athena smiled. "Now, if you will excuse me. I believe I should get dressed. My mother is waiting for me." I smiled at her and turned away.

After hours and hours, yes literally, of wandering through Aphrodite's house I was famished and my feet ached like there was no tomorrow. I had been up for five hours before we finally meet up with "Dear old daddy" for lunch. As we ate, ("Daintily, Maggie. Eat like a thousand people are watching!") I thought about my conversation with Athena, remembered what I told her. "Um, Aphrodite? Apollo? Can I ask you two something?" after their rounds of "of course, darling!" and "I told you you could ask daddy anything!" I popped the question. "Why wasn't I raised here? How does my dad fit in? Tell me about my birth."

"Maggie, well. That is a bit, personal. Don't you think?" Apollo is such a terrible person. But at least he understands a death glare when he sees one. "Then again. I suppose you are a bit wrapped up in the matter. Hey um, Aphrodite you tell her I have to go, set the sun! Bye!" I have never seen someone flee the scene so quickly, even for a god.

"He would do this to me, wouldn't he? Ah, well I supposed we should start from the beginning." She screwed her face up into a thinking expression, granted a dainty one but still! "Maggie, when you were born there was a family feud going on so I had to hide you, because Zeus was very, and I mean very, mad at me, but mostly at Apollo. He found out about you fast enough though." The last part she muttered to herself, and I held my breath waiting for more. "Apollo like thrills, fancy cars, hott girls, the works. Anyways he began making more and more frequent visits to the mortal world for girls and more and more of his children were popping up. Now this happens to be a normal cycle so we were prepared for it but, something was different this time. He wasn't claiming the kids. Why wasn't he claiming them? He was busy wooing me. Then busy getting me pregnant. Then busy helping me while I was pregnant, you know the usual foot rubbing, belly talking stuff. Zeus didn't know about you yet and he called Apollo in for an audience. He demanded that he being claiming his children again, because they were spilling out of the Hermes cabin at camp and had to sleep outside. So he claimed them, all thirty-nine of them. Thirty-nine! When I found out there were so many I was angry. And rightfully so! But by that time I was very pregnant. And so I was rather moody. Apollo and I had a huge fight one night that ended up getting Zeus very mad at both of us. He banished Apollo from court for three years. Not long in immortal time but long enough to make him livid. Zeus didn't get over it for the whole time and he decided the next baby of Apollo's to be born would be his special target of anger. Unfortunately it was you. Athena helped with your birth, for someone who has never actually given birth she was quite helpful. Anyways, with Athena's help I surrounded in as many protections as I could and deposited to your father. Again the drinking I didn't expect. I watched over you every step of your day. Zeus, of course, did find out about you but because of the protections he couldn't do much. When you turned fifteen we should have renewed the defenses but Zeus absolutely forbid it. They eventually got week enough for him to send the lion after you. And the rest, as they say, is history!" she giggled at her own small joke. "That's enough story for tonight. And I am sorry to say, tomorrow you will meet Zeus. My only consolation is that your immortal, he can't kill you." She sighed and dropped her head. "Go on to bed darling. It is getting late." The sun had just set and Apollo was on his way back. I slipped off to bed before I got another "Ask Daddy anything" talk.


	3. Death Wish

"Maggie. Oh come back to me! My master is getting impatient! Yes, he simple cannot wait to get his hands on you!" it was The Dream. My insides screamed but I was paralyzed. The orange lips twisted and amber liquid began creeping its way off her, towards me. I bolted awake, still screaming, only to remember my audience with Zeus was today. Truest me, that did not make me want to stop screaming. "It's only a dream, Maggie. Don't over react. Only a dream." I continued muttering to myself as I showered and found something to wear in my mall closet. When Aphrodite came in to get me I was already dressed and just sitting on the edge of my bed, staring out the window. What could The Dream be about? Who would want me so badly?

"Good morning darling. Are you ready? She only appeared slightly nervous which helped me calm down dramatically. Maybe this whole "Mother" thing would work out after all. "I have a present for you." She reached out her porcelain-skinned hand and placed a dove necklace; so white it could have been carved from her skin, around my neck. "It will bring you what ever you ask for. No matter what it is, or where you are. It is very special and one of a kind, so don't lose it." She smiled lovingly at me as I closed my hand around it. "To use it say περιστέρι, that is peristeri, and then ask for what ever you wish. I would suggest trying it, but we have no time. Let us be off." We waltzed out of the room. That is gliding our feet and swinging our hips, don't tell Aphrodite this but it's rather fun! Within minutes we were waltzing into the pavilion in the center of Olympus. Zeus sat in his throne and Apollo stood next to him.

"Good morning, ladies." Zeus' voice filled up the space, reverberating as if off nonexistent walls. "Aphrodite step away from the girl." When she had settled herself into her own chair and nodded to him Zeus continued. "Fifteen years ago, I made a promise. The next child born to Apollo I would use to teach him a lesson. At the time I was planning on simply killing the poor babe before it even knows life, however you were that child. And you child are immortal by birthright. So the issue became, how to fulfill my promise with and immortal child. Make you a goddess of something nasty? Not harsh enough. Refuse to let Apollo see you? Too late for that. I have two options, and I will let you choose, Maggie. Do I condemn you to never step foot on Olympus again, letting you live immortally on Earth, and forbid you parents to see you? Or do I Forbid your parents from helping you and not let you return until you have completed seven deadly quests? While you could not die on these quests, others may, you can be injured beyond repair, and by failing to complete the quests you forfeit your right to come back to Olympus, the result being the same as the first, but with worse results. It is your choice."

I had listened carefully to everything he had said. Seven deadly quests was a chance at life, but ended in a fate worse then death. Forfeiting Olympus would force me to live in hiding forever. "Uncle Zeus, you are most kind for allowing me to choose my own fate. It is more then I could have asked for. But before I make up my mind I have a few questions. Will these quest be solo?"

"If you find someone willing to be a companion I will not refuse, but a quest never has more then three, and neither will yours." He seemed amused by my questions.

"Before I choose will you list for me the quests?" This was a long shot, and already knew the answer would be no.

"I will tell you the first one I have in mind." A smile played at the edges of his mouth as he said, " Tame the Mares of Diomedes so that you can ride them bareback." Aphrodite gasped in the corner. I knew the task seemed impossible. But looking around I saw my birthright. Here, on Olympus, was where I belonged.

"I have two more questions. One is- is their a time limit? And the other may I return to camp before I go, if I accept, to train?"

"At time limit? No, if you could do them it would be time enough. And camp to train? I suppose you could go to camp. For two weeks to train. And then, the Mares of Diomedes."

"Then I accept your seven tasks. And I will return here a hero." I stood to leave. "Before I go, I would like to say something and not offend you." Zeus nodded. "I know you believe this is the best way to punish my father but I cannot help who my father is, any more then you can. And if the immortals continue to do so then maybe after a while the world will not be such a good place. People would do anything to avoid a challenge, kill their families, sleep with their mothers. Every person is a whole different person. And by treating everyone the same, you miss out on some of the beauty of life." Turning from Zeus I looked at my mother. "I love you. Thank you, for everything. I will come back, and I will" I said as I turned to my father, "make you proud, and I hope you believe in me. Because if I know that you believe in me, I can do this. And I will do this."

"We believe in you darling. So much it hurts. And while we wont be able to help you, we will be watching you. And, and we believe in you." My mother wept quietly in the corner and Apollo went to comfort her. He smiled at me and I turned and walked down the steppes. Into the elevator and rode down into the Empire State Building in New York City. I stepped out as the elevator dinged and walked right into Annabeth.


End file.
